“Anything we can do in pro wrestling to align to mainstream sports, the better off we are” – Jim Ross on the World Cup format, comparing it to other events such as the Olympics and the football World Cup.

The first qualifiers will take place on March 21 at the Harvey Hadden Sports Village in Nottingham, featuring the English qualifiers. They were completely unveiled on Saturday as: Zack Sabre Jr, Rampage, Zack Gibson, Martin Kirby, Marty Scurll, Will Ospreay, Nick Aldis and Jimmy Havoc.

Two days later at the Motherwell Concert Hall in Motherwell, Scotland, there’ll be the Scottish qualifiers. March 23 will see Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, Lewis Girvan, Joe Hendry, Drew Galloway, BT Gunn, Kenny Williams and Liam Thomson attempt to become one of the two qualifiers for the finals in August.

Also announced was the Mexican qualifiers, which will take place on April 30th in the Coventry Skydome. Announced for that leg was Rey Mysterio Jr, Caristico, El Hijo del Dos Caras, Penta el Zero M (the former Pentagon Jr), Alberto el Patron, Drago, Rey Fenix and El Ligero.

The final announced qualifiers came from the German Wrestling Federation, who’ll be getting their two entrants on July 2nd at a show at Huxley’s Neue Welt in Berlin. The GWF’s eight are: “Bad Bones” John Klinger, Axel Dieter Jr, Crazy Sexy Mike, Cash Money Erkan, Juvenile X, Pascal Spalter, Lucky Kid and Tarkan Aslan. Those first two entrants were particular eyebrow raisers, given that they are more well known for their work in another German promotion, wXw.

“I love a good tournament… Nothing represents pro wrestling than an amalgamation of talent from around the world” – Zack Sabre Jr

Further details saw the confirmation of Toronto’s SMASH wrestling hosting the Canadian leg of the qualifiers, whilst the USA, Japanese and Rest of World qualifiers remained TBC.

All matches from the Pro Wrestling World Cup will air free of charge on the WhatCulture YouTube channel, with the finals taking place over four days at the Newcastle Sport Centre – between August 23 and August 26. The final two days will air live on YouTube – with the format of the finals yet to be confirmed.